PUTNEY — We have just experienced the season when many people focus on what they want and try to figure out what other loved ones want and need.
I often go back to the children's picture book Corduroy, about a stuffed bear in a department store who wanders around at night and says, ”I think I've always wanted” the various items he's discovered. But when a little girl comes into the store and sees him and wants to buy him he says, “I've always wanted a friend.” And he and the girl go on to have a good life together.
So how do we each go from the “wants” that are pushed at us through advertising to the things we really want?
Perhaps these things (that aren't just plastic things that break) include:
• peace on Earth
• close friends
• a time for a walk and a look at the stars
• warm homes and food for everyone in our neighborhood
• a time to tell someone your story and a time for someone to tell you theirs
• a world that turns around the threat of climate change and increasing carbon dioxide and global temperatures
• times to share a meal with someone who is lonely or if you are lonely
• a community that cherishes and supports the growth and development of every child, no matter their race, religion, type of family, abilities, or disabilities, challenges, money or lack of money, ethnicity, or ways they dress
• a place to grow plants for food and beauty
• times of singing and playing music
• all the others you can add.
Together, let us keep making this world we all want, particularly as we come into this new year. There is no better time to do so.